


Bound by Frost

by PsychicBeagle



Category: Original Work
Genre: Haunted House, Horror, Like Limbo, Little Kids in Scary Place, Or Inside, Or Most Indie Sidescrollers These Days, ice ice baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 03:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychicBeagle/pseuds/PsychicBeagle
Summary: A manor at the edge of town, the perfect place for a bit of urban exploration. At least, that's what three brave kids think, but did they have to choose such a cold day?





	Bound by Frost

            A breeze blew by, carrying a deep chill that pierced through bared skin. I was lucky enough to have the foresight to grab a jacket before being dragged out here by the wrist. I wasn’t the only one, my friends Heather and Kevin, the latter being the one responsible for us going out in the dead of night, both bundled up in heavy sweaters. You would have to be nuts to go out in late Autumn without the right clothing, even if it was a little warmer than usual.

            Then again, I didn’t think any of us were right in the head, standing in spitting distance of the oldest, creepiest building in the neighborhood. It was out on the edge of the city limits, the thick forest beyond serving as its backdrop. You couldn’t see more than a few feet in, whatever prowled beyond the tree line obscured by shadow.

            The building itself had seen better days, boards cracked and rotting where they weren’t outright missing. Those small holes were the only way you could get any idea of what was within, a severe lack of windows blocking out any prying eyes. Normally, I would gladly give such a place as much space as it wanted, but Kev had other plans.

            “Come on you two, what’s the problem? The place hasn’t been lived in for years, who’ll know?”

            “Dude, that’s exactly what I’m worried about. We’re not interested in your little scavenger hunt, especially not in a place that could drop on top of us whenever. Right, Heather?” I turned my head her way, winking at her in hopes she would get the message.

            “Actually, I’ve been curious about this place for a while.” She wiped a strand of brown hair out of her face, a slight glare on her glasses obscuring her eyes. “The last owners just disappeared a decade ago, right? There might be some sign of where they went, or at least why.”

            “Exactly!” Kevin slid between us, wrapping an arm around our backs. “Don’t you want to be the ones credited for solving the cold case? We’d be heroes! Not to mention there’d have to be some sort of reward from the cops. Fame and fortune, all for a little stroll through a mansion.” I tried to wriggle my way out of his hold, but he wasn’t letting me slip away too easily.

            “If it were that simple, why would the case have gone cold? I’m telling you, people stay away from that house for a reason.” Just looking at it sent chills up my spine, like a big wooden coffin set up well out of hearing range. If something went wrong in there, no one would hear us scream, like all those people centuries ago who found themselves buried alive. Nowhere to run, no one to help you, stuck in a space barely big enough to hold you. The thought of it alone sent shivers up my spine far worse than the cold of night.

            “Wait, don’t tell me.” Heather grew an amused smirk, barely holding in a chuckle. “You’re not afraid it’s haunted, are you?” Kevin didn’t even try, bursting out into laughter.

            “Oh man, the old haunted mansion, classic! What, should I go get a Great Dane to back you up?” He took his arm off of me, rummaging around in his front pocket. “Besides, even if there are ghosts, I’m prepared.” From the end of a small, silver chain, looped through a hole in the cap, dangled a glass bottle of water. A golden cross stood resolutely on the front, engraved right into the glass. “Holy water, bane of the undead!”

            “Not you, too?” Heather had a hand over her forehead, shaking it disapprovingly. “Let’s just go, before a black cat sets you two off.” She grabbed us both by the wrist, dragging us along as she marched towards the house. You wouldn’t think it looking at her thin frame, but she was probably the strongest of us. Struggling wouldn’t have done any good, forcing me to swallow my apprehension as I was dragged head first into a place I wanted nothing to do with.

            Kevin rushed on ahead, opening the door for Heather, me still in tow. As soon as I was in, I noticed the drop in temperature. There was probably a ten degree difference between in there and outside, my sweater nowhere near thick enough to keep it all out. Then there was the smell, like mold and dust. It wasn’t all that surprising, a decade of disuse and all, but it still wasn’t pleasant. The door slammed behind us, sending a rattle through the whole floor.

            “Hey, careful with that door! We don’t know how stable this place is. Do you want to bring it down on our heads?” She felt no need to hold her voice down, scolding Kevin with every decibel she could muster. At least her redirected focus loosened up her grip, letting me take my hand back.

            “Well excuse me. This place held up for this long. A little jolt here or there isn’t going to bring it down anytime soon.”

            I tuned out, knowing their arguments tended to go on for a while, instead focusing on a little table near the entryway. There was a small flower pot on top, contents long wilted away, leaving behind only dirt. Beside it was a picture frame with heavy cracks running along the front.

            Curiously, I picked it up, taking a better look. Inside was a photo of what I could only assume was the family. The couple in it was around middle aged, only starting to show signs of wrinkling, and between them was a kid who didn’t look too much younger than us. The glass coating was crossed by fractures, lines cutting them off from their parents. Disturbingly, right under their long, brown hair and rosy red cheeks, a crack went straight across their neck. It almost gave the illusion of the head and body being disconnected, making me rub my own throat for assurance.

            “Hurry up, or we’ll leave you behind!” I jumped, Kevin’s voice echoing from the hall to my right. I set the frame back down, as close to how it was before I grabbed it as possible, before running off to find them.

            I followed the sound of clacking wood into what I quickly pieced together as the kitchen. Cupboards lined the walls, a ground level pantry settled next to an old, rusty fridge that might have once been white. Now it was shades of brown and orange, thoroughly rusted over. In the middle of it all was a table, a chair on either side. I couldn’t pin down why, but something about it seemed off.

            “Look at all this cooking stuff. Silver pots and pans, big glass bowls, knives, the works!” Kevin seemed more amped than usual, throwing each cupboard open in quick succession, not a single care about how the doors clashed into one another and the walls behind them. He was too busy being entranced by all the fancy kitchenware. “You guys think my mom would like having all this?”

            “Don’t even think about it, sticky fingers.” Heather was going at a much more calm pace, running a few fingers over the fridge before looking closely at the resulting dust.

            “She’s right, you know. The cops might pick us up for theft, even if the owners are long gone.” He seemed to deflate, but shook it off with a groan.

            “Fine, but if they don’t pay us well for investigating, I’m taking it anyway. Don’t tell anyone!” He closed the cupboard he was scrounging through just in time to stiffen at the sound of heavy clattering. All eyes turned to the pantry, whose door jittered in time with the noise. Kevin and I glanced at each other every few seconds, practically begging that the other went to check.

            “Uh, why don’t you do it? I mean, you still owe me for lunch yesterday.”

            “What!? But this was your idea in the first place! Besides, who here showed off their magic water?”

            “For the love… I’ll do it!” Before either of us could argue, Heather grabbed the handle, yanking the door open. Before she had a chance to jump away, a small, dark, hairy figure bounded out, dashing between her legs, under the table, and down the nearest hallway. I laughed nervously, rubbing my chest to soothe my poor, battered heart.

            “Heh, just a rat.”

            “Y-Yeah, they would like old, abandoned places. No one here to lay out the poison and traps.” Heather leaned against the door, not in the mood to let another one of those things fly out and scare us all half to death. I had to wonder what it would’ve been like when the family was here. The kid must’ve had the jitters whenever they went for a sandwich…

            The pieces fell into place, my eyes slowly trailing over to the table. Two chairs?

            “We’re a chair short.” The nervous laughter quieted down, and I felt their eyes on the back of my head. “The picture by the entrance showed there were three people who lived here, a kid and their parents. So why are there only two seats?”

            “Well, maybe someone needed some extra height?” Heather slowly stepped away from the pantry, eyeing it to make sure nothing else was coming out. “Whenever I need something from one of the higher shelves, I usually just grab a chair. Why wouldn’t they do the same?” After a second of mulling it over, I nodded, not wanting to stick on any one topic too long. That would just make this little excursion take longer.

            “Great, so, uh, how about we move on? I say we check upstairs, who’s with me?”

 

-

 

            Surprise, surprise, the upstairs was just as decrepit as the rest of the house, maybe more so. I had a corner of my eye trained on the floor, making sure none of the exceedingly creaky, unstable boards fell out from under me. The wallpaper along the walls was coming off in huge patches, leaving old, rotting wood walls exposed to open air, which they didn’t hesitate to fill with the stink of mold.

            Strangely, the air seemed even colder somehow. Were there more holes in the wall up here to let heat out? Then again, if it was colder in here than out there, wouldn’t being open to the outside make it warmer? I knew I shouldn’t question logic in places like this, but my mind seemed to hook on the little details. The cracks in the picture frame, the missing chair, the unexplainable chill, my gut was telling me there was something alarming going on, but my brain couldn’t figure out exactly what.

            “Okay, where do we check first?” Apparently Kevin had his bravado back, rubbing his hands together as his eyes traced along the halls. There were three doors, two along the way, on opposite sides, and one at the far end.

            “We might as well just go down the row. Start with the closest one and work from there, and that one would be here.” Heather grabbed the nearest door’s handle, but she was stopped from opening it by a loud click. “Oh come on, it’s locked? Who locks individual rooms inside the house, but leaves the front door wide open?” She jimmied the handle for a while, but gave up with a huff. Kevin went over to the next one in line, grabbing the handle just as Heather had before, but he recoiled at the touch.

            “Holy cow that’s cold!” His hand rubbing wasn’t for the sake of thought this time, now openly an attempt at getting the heat flowing again. I slipped passed him, carefully touching the knob with my fingertips. Like he said, the handle might as well have been painted ice. I tried turning it myself, but all I got for it was another click.

            Actually, listening closer, there was something off about it. It wasn’t the sort of sound you would expect, like metal hitting metal, it was too muffled for that. It sounded more like a chisel going to work on something much softer, but I couldn’t quite tell what.

            A breeze blew through the hall, sending shivers crawling across our bodies. I turned to try to find where it came from, only to notice that the door at the very end of the hall was ever so slightly open.

            “At least one door is open up here.” The others were already on the move, intent on seeing at least one of these rooms. Hesitantly, I followed behind them, safe in the thought that if there was something in there, they would see it before me and turn tail. A pretty selfish idea, I realized, but they were the ones who insisted on me coming along. If they wanted to put their necks on the line, they could be my guests, but I refused to be the canary.

            By the time I got to the door, they were already inside, blocking my view of the center of the room. Glancing around, I noticed the decor. The walls were completely barren, torn up scraps of wallpaper littering the ground beneath them. In the back left corner, a small bed was set up, just long enough to accommodate one of us, covered in the same signs of disuse and disrepair as everything else in the house. To the right, I saw another door, one that was a lot smaller than the others. I made the reasonable assumption that it was a closet, closed up tight.

            “You guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Seconds passed without a reply. When I turned to them, they were still just standing there, staring ahead. “Um, guys? Did you hear…” I came up close to them, about to grab and shake their shoulders, but I froze when I saw what they were staring so intently at.

            In the center of the room, the missing third chair stood, oddly sturdy looking compared to everything else, not a scratch or speck of mold to be seen. Above it dangled a ceiling fan, whose hinges had long since rusted in place. Around one of the arms, someone had tied off a length of rope. It hang down to about half the room’s height, where it looked like something had torn the end off, strands frizzing out from the break. It didn’t take long to find the matching piece, tied off into a loop, set in the middle of the chair. The connection was instantaneous.

            “What is… Why…”

            “Why would there be a noose in their kid’s room?” The question drifted out of me in a whisper, but the impact of it being voiced wasn’t lessened for it. The tension between us became palpable, a thick fog cutting us off from our logical minds.

            I was pulled groggily from my confusion by another breeze, but I noticed something else. Unlike every other room in the house, this one didn’t have a single hole in the walls. It was still solid after all these years. No, the breeze wasn’t coming from outside. Turning to where I felt the flow, I was left facing the closet door, opened only a crack wide. Kevin was the first to say it that time.

            “Wasn’t that closed a second ago?” We looked to each other again, confirming from the look in our eyes that none of us had touched it. Against my better judgment, pulled along by some twisted sense of curiosity, I stepped slowly towards the door.

            I put my hand on the knob, finding that it was even colder than the other one, but I didn’t let that stop me. Slowly, I tugged on the door, which dragged along the carpet. The resulting sound was like claws running along the floor, and straight up our backs if the unconscious jitters were any sign. I peered into the darkness, but what I found only made the shaking more intense. I stumbled away from that closet, almost tripping over my own legs. I tried putting my thoughts to words, but what came out was a series of unconnected stutters, like I was choking on the vowels.

            Sitting in the back of that closet, stuck under no less than a foot of ice, was the body of that kid, skin sucked inwards and greying. Its lips were pulled back over its gums, displaying yellowed teeth to the world. My eyes were stuck on its, or, rather, its lack thereof, empty sockets leading only to shadows. I had questions, too many questions, but we all knew what came first, Heather more than happy to say it.

            “We should leave. Now.” I was about to oblige her, but my ears picked up something that made my muscles lock up. It was quiet, almost inaudible, but I knew I heard someone chuckling under their breath. The voice was scratchy, thick.

            “…oh, so soon?” The chuckles became louder, almost enough to be called a full laugh. My eyes, for a reason I could never understand, were drawn back to that frozen corpse. It might have been my mind playing tricks on me, but I thought I saw its jaw twitching in time with the voice. “but you only just came in. don’t you want to relax? i know, we’ll play a game. hmm, tell me, do you enjoy tag?”

            My heart skipped a beat when something deep in those eyeless sockets sparked. For a moment, I swore blind that I had seen a blue flash. My hunch was confirmed when the light came back, this time more steady, a dark blue dot in each hole, right where the pupil would have been.

            “i would hate if you left me so soon. daddy tried once. it didn’t work. mommy tried next, and it ended the same way. please, don’t leave me, let’s play. after one round, i know you’ll never want to leave. mommy and daddy didn’t.” The doorway behind us flashed for a moment, the door moving completely out of our way. “don’t worry, i’ll make it fair, give you a head start. it’s no fun if it’s too easy.”

            “you have five seconds, and you had better use it well. let’s just say, I don’t think one versus three is fair, either.” The laughter grew louder and louder, as if it was ringing from the walls themselves. My body was locked in place, staring at the twisted, laughing, grinning corpse. “five…”

            “Come on!” There was a yank on my shoulder. I turned, finding Kevin looking at me with almost manic eyes, pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “We’re getting out of here!” The jolt was exactly what I needed, my heart already running itself as hard as it could. My legs couldn’t move fast enough, adrenaline flooding my system, dashing straight out of that room behind Kevin and Heather.

            “three, two…”

            The walls on either side echoed with a heavy banging, like something was writhing against them. There was a muffled hissing sound, the sound of someone sucking in air through their teeth. Glancing down, I saw that there was something leaking out from under the locked doors. I thought it was water, but I didn’t think stopping to check was a good idea.

            “one.”

            The series of banging ended with one loud smash, the doors breaking off their hinges, almost taking Heather down with them. From the doorways, more shriveled, greyed corpses stumbled out. These two were much taller, their arms lanky and twitching, and their skin had a wet sheen as if they had been dredged up from the depths of the sea. Their frames were vaguely those of a man and a woman, the same as the ones standing over the kid in that photo.

            Their heads creaked our way, bodies stretching out in such a way to bar the hallway out. They groaned at us, throats so shrunken that it came out as more of a hiss, and my eyes locked with theirs. Where the kid’s sockets were simply dark, theirs were nothing short of the void. There was nothing, no spark of light, no animation at all. It came together with their jerky, stilted motion to give the impression of macabre puppets, strung up and forced to dance. Laughter rolled out from behind us, and the corpses fell in line, laughing just as hard.

            “i warned you, didn’t i? very well, i’ll rebalance the rules. how about this, only I can make you out, they will try to stop you.” I glanced behind me, fearing the slow, calmly paced footsteps coming from that room. In the door frame, the kid’s body stood loosely, head hanging off to the side, their whole frame rocking with the constant giggling. “i wonder, can any of you get by? perhaps one will sacrifice the others, running as their friends are caught. wouldn’t that be delicious? betrayal, the finest display of human weakness.”

            I stood there, shaking in my shoes, one eye pointed in each direction. Kevin and Heather were in the same boat, eyes darting around for any chance to get out of the loop. I put a little more attention towards the kid, looking for any kinks in their armor. Maybe I could distract them?

            “Why… why are you doing this? What did we do to you?” Their gaze drifted to me, laughter settling, but I could somehow tell they were still grinning inside all the same.

            “you specifically? besides breaking into my home, talking of stealing what’s mine, not much. but humanity as a whole? oh so very much.” They took one step forward, then another, and another. It was like the ticking hands of a clock counting down to zero. I backed away slowly, every inch that closed between us like another finger closing around me. Its movements were far smoother than the other two, more measured, more thinking.

            “to turn your backs on me. to run away. to abandon me for so long. so boring, so infuriating, but now, i’m not alone anymore. new friends to play with, forever, doesn’t that sound fun? three more today, a hundred more tomorrow. on and on and on. come on, why don’t you play? i know, perhaps being the turncoat would suit you more.”

            I bumped into something in my constant backtracking, and a scream ripped through the air. I spun around on my heels to see that it wasn’t something, it was someone. Heather had been holding her ground well enough, a stare off against these decaying things, but one nudge out of place made whatever leverage she had disappear. In my fear, I had pushed her right into the waiting arms of the female corpse, which swiftly clamped itself around her. She yelled and struggled, but it didn’t do much good, and the male corpse being so close made a snap rescue too risky.

            “Heather, I…!” Deja vu hit me like a truck, arms grabbing me while I wasn’t looking. The difference between our situations was the placement. Hers were around the torso, holding her in place and nothing else. For me, only one was on my chest, hand placed over my heart. The other was lodged firmly under my neck, pulling tightly around my throat.

            “ah, wonderful! so much fun, to play the traitor. it’s liberating, right?” The force from both of their arms only got stronger as they spoke. Breathing was getting too difficult, working around the inward bulge in my throat that threatened to clamp the airway completely off. Its other arm was pressing as hard into my chest as it could, but, strangely, it felt like it was still going. I could’ve sworn I felt that hand so much deeper, grazing against the insides of my ribs. Its touch was cold, like living ice, and the breath on the back of my neck wasn’t any warmer.

            “i know the game is far from over, but i think such a great turn deserves another. hey, i know just the thing!” The cold, unseen fingers prying ever deeper clamped shut, and my heartbeat became erratic. Its functions were being blocked by a pressure from every side, the blood flow in my body slowing to a crawl. The strength I had fled from me as the lack of oxygen set in, every cell that made me tearing at my nerves in protest. Moving got harder, and the movement itself became slower. My vision started to become blurry, tinged with that otherworldly blue.

            “you can help me more. yes, i could use someone like you. some fresh meat would do me some good. you should be honored, oh harbinger of the new…!” Its speech was cut off by ghastly cry, and I felt something dripping on my arm. My eyes lazily trailed to the left, where they saw broken pieces of a glass bottle running down and over my arm alongside the water it was holding. The only recognizable portion of the container left was a single, large shard of glass decorated with a golden cross.

            “The power of God compels you!” The arms around me flew off, and I dropped to my knees. It was a relief, having that hand out of my chest, off of my heart, but I was still so cold. And that screaming, it didn’t sound quite whole. It was like a layer of it had been stripped away, leaving only the flow of air. My muscles locked up from the frozen touch, my whole body dropping to the floor, where darkness overtook what was left of my vision.

-

            “Get up! Come on, dude, we can’t let you die on us here!” I breathed in with a heavy gasp. The air was musty, dusty, but entirely welcomed. I kept up with the deep breathing, my lungs feeling like they hadn’t taken air in years. I kept my eyes closed, wanting to enjoy the feeling as long as I could.

            “Oh thank God, they’re alive!” My shoulders were roughly grabbed, dragging me up into a sitting position. I didn’t feel like looking around just yet, so I kept the eyes shut.

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. Ugh, what happened?”

            “I think that kid was the keystone to all of this. As soon as I soaked them in the water, those body things started squirming around in pain. Then they just sort of fell over, like someone had cut their strings.” The arms slid under mine, trying to drag me up to my feet. “Let’s get the heck out of here, before something else crazy happens.” It sounded like Heather was well ahead of us, her footsteps coming up from the stairs. I wiggled out of the hold, trying to get my bearings.

            “Go on ahead, I’m still feeling sore from the tag.” I heard a heavy sigh out of Kevin, but that was about it. He didn’t know how being in a bind like that was, so he didn’t comment. At least, that’s what I think the thought behind it was.

            “Alright, suit yourself. We’ll be just outside when you’re ready, and make it quick. Someone has to hear about this.” I heard him walking away, and I smiled.

            So, I was alive, right? I pinched my arm, the sensation of pain coming through loud and clear. Heh, yeah, I was alive. My eyes peeled open slowly, the low lighting making it easier to adjust. The first things I saw were my hands, paled from the experience, but still sturdy. I spread my fingers open, getting a feel for my digits.

            Between my hands, sitting on the floor a few feet away, was a chunk of ice. It was clear, not even a drop of water obscuring the surface. I was able to make out my own reflection there. I looked deep into my own eyes, and I smiled. What a beautiful shade of blue.

            “H-hey, what gives!?”

            “Get down here, the doors are locked!”

            I smirked to myself, plan working all too well. Deep inside my heart, I felt a squirming sensation. Mmm, to have a new soul there to play with. It had been a long time since I had one, and the older two were starting to bore. Still, there was plenty of room left, and I could hear two someones who would fit nicely. I rose off the floor, my three little puppets swaying on their feet around me. They groaned in obedience like good playthings, eager to serve.

            “Hold on, we’ll be right there!”

**Author's Note:**

> Behold, my original work from well over a year ago. How was it? I hope it was... chilling. Yep, my transformation into the Crypt Keeper is complete. Someone stop me before I put on a Hawaiian shirt and call myself the Scare-huna.
> 
> So, I should be able to finish my next proper chapter by this time next week (assuming I don't get stuck playing too much Neptunia. Nep Nep.), but just in case, let's vote for the next filler. So, what's next, the giant spider or a depressed dollar?


End file.
